Wednesday, April 10, 2013

What I'm Into Lately, March 2013

In the fall, I stopped posting my Monday Mixtape posts in favor of a more personal weekly series promoting independent art-makers. That series Buy More Art has been fun and I'm looking forward to taking it up a notch this year with giveaways and interviews and more all-around hoopla.

I stumbled onto a fun blog link-up hosted by Hopeful Leigh, and I think I've found the happy second generation of Monday Mixtape. The problem is that I keep being super busy at the end of the month and don't get to actually posting my list until the link-up is closed. Still, I share my March 2013 with you all.

6 The Best American Essays 2005, edited by Susan Orlean and Robert Atwan (Mariner Books, 2005) - I love essays. I love them so much I wish I could dream about them. Sometimes I do fall asleep with a question at the top of my mind, hoping I'll dream up a brilliant and beautiful response that will magically transcribe itself in essay form the second I awake. This has not happened - yet. But I hope if I keep reading more essays I'll get a bit closer. The collection from 2005 included only a few titles I didn't really enjoy, a few I'd only consider mildly enjoyable and a few I wish I could memorize because the words made me so happy. A few authors I'd read before -- Jonathan Franzen, David Sedaris, David Foster Wallace. Many I had not -- Andrea Barrett, Ian Frazier, Edward Hoagland, Ted Kooser and more. As it turns out, most of my favorite essays came to me from previously unknown writers.

"Diagramming sentences is one of those lost skills, like darning socks or playing the sackbut, that no one seems to miss. Invented, or at least codified, in an 1877 text called Higher Lessons in English, by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg, it swept through American public schools like the measles, and was embraced by teachers as the way to reform students who were engaged in "the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue" (to take Henry Higgins slightly out of context). By promoting the beautifully logical rules of syntax, diagramming would root out evils like "it's me" and "I ain't got none," until everyone wrote like Ralph Waldo Emerson, or at least James Fenimore Cooper"

7 Thirst: Poemsby Mary Oliver (Beacon Press, 2007) - Beautiful words written by the Pulitzer-prize winning poet during the same season she grieved the death of her partner after 40 years together and, for the first time, records her discovery of a new faith. The book blurb suggests as almost a side-note that Oliver was able to retain her love for nature while simultaneously exploring faith -- as if that were an unexpected feat. I read her poems as a culmination of a lifetime of searching -- and finally getting to the Root of all that is awe-worthy in this world. The resulting poems were an exquisite addition to my Lenten reading. I'm so grateful. (in fact, the language and rhythm for the poem I wrote here on Holy Saturday came as a sort of response to reading Thirst.)

Call the Midwife (BBC)Written by Heidi Thomas, adapted from best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer WorthStarring Jessica Raine, Jenny Agutter, Stephen McGannWhen we watched Season 1 on Amazon prime, I raved about the show here. I've been waiting for season 2 and Easter Sunday was the perfect premiere date!Really -- of all the BBC drama (really most any drama) I've watched, this is the best one -- by a long shot.

Written by Heidi Thomas, adapted from best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer WorthStarring Tom Hollander, Olivia ColmanAlso on Amazon prime, also from BBC, this cheeky half-hour comedy about a Church of England vicar recently moved from a rural parish to the inner-city world of St. Saviour's in East London. I should probably mention a disclaimer right here: if you can't handle a bit of irreverence with your stories about church and people who run them, you probably won't like this show. I'm a teensy bit squeamish myself (hits a little close to home for this preacher's kid) but managed to lighten up enough to laugh along with my husband-the-seminary-student-soon-to-be-Anglican-vicar priest.Really -- not taking ourselves too seriously should probably be at the top of the list for all clergy requirements. This show makes us laugh, and every once in a while, cry. A pretty great combination for this season of our lives.Most cringe-worthy episode (season 1, episode 1)Most redemption is beautiful episode (Christmas episode)

on the big screen (if not literally then at least via Netflix)

The Way (2010)Directed and adapted from novel by Emilio EstevezStarring Martin Sheen, Emilio EstevezMy friend Wendy recommended this movie to me. Actually she assumed I'd seen it. Maybe she added up my love for Rick Steves' Europe, West Wing, liturgical traditions and semi-obscure films? When you add my hope for relational grace and reconciliation it all adds up to "where in the world was I in 2010 that I missed this film?!?" Wendy was right. The only good part about waiting three years to see it is that I watched it during Holy Week. Perfect timing.We also watched The Prince of Egyptwith the girls. A somewhat soft-boiled Biblical refresher for the Passover Seder we'd been invited to participate on Holy Saturday. But it's still one of our favorites. And I had the book of Exodus opened on my lap through the whole thing -- calling out places where the film got it right on and places where they'd taken a bit of creative license. Like I'd forgotten that God used the cloud by day and fire by night not only to lead the Hebrew people to the shore of the Red Sea but also to block them from the Egyptian army's view for a whole night -- giving them a head start in crossing the sea. Glorious triumph indeed.

what i’m looking forward to next monthEver since I announced my bright idea for a way to Practice Resurrection during Eastertide, I've been scrambling trying to make it happen. I know something will come together and I look forward to letting you know when it does!In the meantime, celebrate the Great 50 Days and take up something new!

Tamara Hill Murphy

I am Tamara Murphy: born and raised in a cynical, smalltown Northeast still harboring a penchant for hope and big ideas. Now I live in the bright city of Austin, Texas with my audacious and often-homesick family: two daughters, two sons, one husband.

I believe in the power of the written word. I read and write words to make friends with the ancient, present and future. I write to encourage both you and me to see God's presence through daily practices of art, liturgy and relationship.